Solar Fields – Formations

I'm quite disappointed with my copy of this record. Not because of the music being bad (it's a great album that I would generally recommend), but because this album as well as the other 2 I got from this label arrived in terrible condition. The vinyl is so noisy that it completely ruins the music, pops and clicks utterly kill ambient music like this. I think it's a disgrace to deliver a product in such a state, I've been trying to clean the records for a week and still can't get rid of all the noise.

This is a consistent experience I've had with all vinyl albums that I bought from this label. It's possible that I could potentially get rid of all the noise with a cleaning machine, but I don't think that the majority of consumers can easily afford something like that. I sure can't, and I think any pressing that can't be cleaned well enough by a regular person to be able to simply listen to it without clicks and pops throughout the entire album, is simply not acceptable. I really think that sidereal have to work on the quality control of their vinyl pressings, and I would NOT recommend anyone buying this unless they have a cleaning machine that can get rid of all the filth on the records.

This album in particular I had a pretty bad experience with: my transparent version of this arrived with a deep, audible scratch. So I had to return it and instead got the swamp green version. However, this one also arrived with an imperfection, at least this time it wasn't audible though. I should have sent it back too, but I'm tired of dealing with this and I simply won't buy another vinyl album from this label.

Swamp Green Variant, beautiful presentation by the label with booklet and pictures.

Sound is great, better than 24bit lossless on Apple music for comparison, I disagree with the comment below that is a poor sounding record.
It's silent, flat and dynamic.

1st pressing and release - black vinyl variant but is actually very dark green translucent Plays OK but sounds terrible Dull flat muted. lacks sparkle poor press, dirty noisy Disagree with comment that sounds OK, record was filthy and needed repeated ultrasonic cleans, played on a very high end system >£250k with Lyra cartridge > £9k

Another super cool Solar field release ! Highly recommend anyone that loves experimental/Ambient/Downtempo tunes to get a copy. Very unique music :)

Beautiful is the best word to describe this release. Beautiful crystal clear transparent vinyl with the same beautiful crystal clear sound. Beautiful gatefold cover with attached booklet containing Beautiful individual artwork for each track. Sidereal Records at it's finest.

A beautiful compilation that actually harkens back to classic eras of Solar Fields. Gone, are most of the drones! Sure, constant waves of samples can sometimes feel soothing but they often times (for obvious reasons) lack musical variety and memorable synth compositions. This is not the case for Formations, as each track feels unique and complex, like something you'd want to listen to when exploring No Man's Sky. As with nearly every album, you're going to have low-points and here I'd argue that "Always 034746" and "Desolation" hit those levels, but the rest of the journey is truly a joy to experience, especially to those who've been a fan of Magnus's work over the years. You won't be disappointed!